Range in California: Green
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies
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Adult, Madera County |
Adult, Madera County |
Adult, Tuolumne County |
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Adult male, Tuolumne County |
Juvenile, Tuolumne County |
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Note that the dark stripes on the sides of the tail on juvenile Gilbert's skinks do not extend far onto the tail as they do on the Western Skink. Compare
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Habitat, Tuolumne County
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Habitat, 1200 ft., Mariposa County |
| Description |
| Size |
| 2.5 - 4.5 inches long from snout to vent (6.3 - 11.4 cm). Tail can be up to nearly 2 times the body length. |
| Appearance |
A large skink with a heavy body, small head, thick neck, small legs, and a smooth, shiny body with cycloid scales. The tongue is forked, and is frequently protruded. Females are smaller than males.
Adult coloring is olive or light brown with darker edging around the scales, and sometimes the appearance of faded light and dark stripes. Striping fades with age. The long tail is easily detached, and becomes orange on older adults. Males develop bright reddish-orange coloring on the head.
Young look very much like adult E. s. skiltonianus, with distinct light and dark stripes (which fade with age) and a blue tail. However, the dark stripe on the sides of young skinks usually extends only to near the base of the tail. |
| Behavior |
| Found mostly under surface objects. Rarely found moving about on the ground in the open, however, they are active in the daytime and will occasionally be seen moving in grass, among rocks, or in leaf litter. |
| Diet |
| Eats a variety of small invertebrates. |
| Reproduction |
| A clutch of 3 - 9 eggs is laid in summer. |
| Range |
This subspecies is endemic to California in foothills and middle elevations of the central Sierra Nevada Mountains (the Yosemite area). Also found on the San Joaquin Valley floor - probably intergrades with other subspecies.
The species E. gilberti ranges from the northern Sierra Nevada foothills from south of the Yuba River through the southern Sierras, and south through the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, the coast ranges, and the southern interior and mountains, into Baja California. Also found in isolated regions east of the Sierras along the Nevada border and into Nevada, and in the southern tip of Nevada into Arizona. From sea level to 7,300 ft. (2.220 m). |
| Habitat |
| Prefers areas where moisture is present nearby, including grassland, chaparral, woodlands, and pine forests. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
"Richmond and Reeder (2002, Evolution 56: 1498-1513) presented evidence that populations previously referred to Eumeces gilberti represent three lineages that separately evolved large body size and the loss of stripes in late ontogenetic stages. Although they considered those three lineages to merit species recognition, they did not propose specific taxonomic changes in that paper. We have placed the name "gilberti" in quotation marks to indicate that it refers to a group composed of several species."
Herpetological Review 2003, 34(3), 196-203.
Brandley et al. (2005 Syst. Biol. 54:373-390) replaced Eumeces with Plestiodon.
The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles has adopted the use of Plestiodon in the sixth edition of their Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America north of Mexico list. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Scincidae |
Skinks |
| Genus |
Eumeces (=Plestiodon) |
Great Skinks (=Toothy Skinks) |
| Species |
gilberti |
Gilbert's Skink |
Subspecies
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gilberti |
Greater Brown Skink |
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Original Description |
Eumeces gilberti - Van Denburgh, 1896 - Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 2, Vol. 6, p. 350
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Eumeces - Greek - eu- good or nice and mekos length or height
gilberti - honors Gilbert, Charles H.
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Greater Western Skink
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Related or Similar California Lizards |
E. g. cancellosus - Variegated Skink
E. g. placerensis - Northern Brown Skink
E. g. rubricaudatus - Western Red-tailed Skink
E. s. interparietalis - Coronado Skink
E. s. skiltonianus - Skilton's Skink
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Cornell University Press, 1946.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
There are no significant conservation concerns for this animal in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
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| USDA Forest Service |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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